New Life, Rest, and Rejuvenation

The pace of life has slowed down a bit over the last few weeks, for which I am incredibly grateful. After the birth of my second child (still can’t believe I have two kids) and taking a major exam, I took a two week break. During this time I talked with my wife, played with my daughter, held my son, watched a few movies, and read books I wanted to read. Oh, I also caught up on sleep (which, as it happens, is difficult to do when there is a two week old baby sleeping in the same room as you).

The break was long enough that I miss being around my family all day everyday. Thankfully, it was also long enough that I have renewed focus and energy for returning to my work.

My summer at a glance:

Saturday I will be speaking at Nexus, a congregation of Richardson Church of the Nazarene, on the Wesleyan structures for Christian formation through community.

The rest of the summer I will be studying for my final field exam, writing and conducting interviews for a paper on Methodist Seminaries and the Civil Rights Movement I will be presenting at the American Academy of Religion in late October, revising two papers I have written, and working on my dissertation proposal.

I am also looking forward to getting back into the routine of blogging on a regular basis. On more than one occasion, as I have been working through my reader account, I have been disappointed that I missed the opportunity to be a part of a great conversation prompted by a thoughtful blog post. I am looking forward to reengaging the Methodist blogging world.